1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a compact refrigerator adapted to cool containers filled with soft drink or the like and, more particularly, to an electronic compact refrigerator of flat type suitable to be installed within a limited space and also useful as the portable one.
2. Background Art
Various compact refrigerators are well known in the form of, for example, the home electric refrigerator or the cooler box for leisure time amusement. The compact refrigerators of well known art include also the refrigerator for business purposes which has an automatic vending function and often installed in the guest room of hotel.
Such compact refrigerator of prior art has been similar to the large-sized one so far as it comprises components such as compressor, condenser and evaporator and utilizes Freon gas as refrigerant to cool the interior of refrigerator.
The home electric refrigerator has been commonly used as one of the most important living necessaries to provide the comfortable living environment because it is able to store foodstuff without impairing freshness, taste and nutrition thereof, and said refrigerator having the automatic vending function has become service means adapted to offer cooled soft drink or the like readily and conveniently.
Recently a demand has come into existence, as the standard of living has risen, that every room should be provided with, in addition to a TV set, an electric refrigerator. There has arisen also a demand for development of the related products such as a portable canteen incorporated with a correspondingly miniaturized cooling device and a compact refrigerator adapted to be installed near by a cramped seat in a minicar. Such development will make it possible to carry food and drink requiring to be kept cooled easily and anywhere and thereby to further enrich the living environment as well as the leisure environment.
While there have already been available various services on traffic facilities such as taxi, bus, streetcar and railway train, it is also demanded for these traffic facilities to offer cooled soft drink or the like in easy and convenient manner.
However, the refrigerator itself must be further miniaturized in order to satisfy the various demands as mentioned above and such miniaturization is encountered by some problems so far as the refrigerator is based on the well known principle of refrigeration. Specifically, the refrigeration has been achieved, in accordance with the conventional principle, by the cooling cycle comprising jet evaporation and compression of refrigerant, so that the large-sized components and movable parts such as compressor and condenser have been necessary and such requirement has usually imposed a certain limitation on miniaturization of the refrigerator. Furthermore, it will be difficult to obtain a portable refrigerator, even if the above-mentioned components are miniaturized to some extent.